Or are they closing because of a decline in congregations throughout the country due, in part, to the truly egregious and unforgivable scandal of priests abusing little innocent boys, and not only getting away with it, but having the behavior tacitly encouraged by a Church that would merely shuttle deviant priests from parish to parish?

My family is nominally Catholic, but we were never relgious for a variety of reasons. I don’t even think I can call myself Catholic, since I was never confirmed, never had communion (but was Baptised, FWIW). But I used to be able to join Catholic friends in Church for certain occasions, like Easter & Christmas services and go along. I can’t do that anymore. I am so sickened by a secretive heirarchy that not only permitted pedophilia to happen, but denied it while it was rampant throughout the church, that I find it physically repulsing now.

The idea that the police ought to “shoot to kill” people who are committing larceny (a non-violent crime) is so completely fascist that I can’t believe it’s being considered during the course of a 3-hour morning talk radio program in Buffalo, NY, USA in 2005.

He wouldn’t advocate shooting people who steal a bottle of water from Walgreens, though. But if they steal a walkman from Best Buy, then go ahead and blast ’em with a load of lead. Because murder is the proportionate and reasonable response to losing a walkman.

Christina Abt got all of her petitions in on time, and nobody is challenging them. So, it’s off to the next step: raising money & getting the word out.

This quote right here:

The greatest lesson I have learned in running a legislative district office is that a large part of representing constituents involves listening to their problems and helping them find solutions. I think too often people get into office and treat the job as if it’s all about them. They forget that elected officials are public servants—responsible to those who voted for them.

All they did was sell counterfeit LiveSTRONG bracelets and not forward any money on to the Lance Armstrong foundation. Now, they’re out of business and that busybody Armstrong will get some cash from them. Damn you Spitzer!

If you’re a customs agent, and you suspect that the Chinese female tourist is somehow associated with the guy you just arrested for pot smuggling, and even if she runs away, that does not miraculously give you the right to beat the living shit out of her.

Turns out she had nothing to do with the guy arrested for pot smuggling. Turns out she witnessed the arrest, and she’s from a wicked totalitarian dictatorship, she saw a bunch of guys with guns and uniforms running after her, and she thought they were angry that she had witnessed the arrest. Hey, if you were in China, and a bunch of armed Chinese officers started chasing you, would you run? Would you stop? In that split-second you’d have to decide, would you be thinking clearly?

She had done nothing wrong. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and met up with the wrong guy – a guy whose first reaction wasn’t legally to subdue her, given his suspicions, and take her into custody. Instead, he beat her so as to render her unrecognizable.

His defense? Not that he used reasonable force – because that would be obvious bullshit to any jury. Not that the battery was otherwise justified – it wasn’t. His defense is that he’s being persecuted unfairly because he’s gay. He says he just pepper-sprayed her. Pepper spray makes your eyes burn. It doesn’t give you bruises and welts. His fellow officers won’t even back him up: they testified that they were handcuffing Zhao when Rhodes kneed her head into the concrete floor. Nice guy.